Muscle dissatisfaction in young adult men

Anu Raevuori,Anna Keski-Rahkonen,Richard J Rose,Aila Rissanen,Jaakko Kaprio,Cynthia M Bulik

doi:10.1186/1745-0179-2-6

Abstract

BackroundAppearance concerns are of increasing importance in young men's lives. We investigated whether muscle dissatisfaction is associated with psychological symptoms, dietary supplement or anabolic steroid use, or physical activity in young men.MethodsAs a part of a questionnaire assessment of health-related behaviors in the population-based FinnTwin16 study, we assessed factors associated with muscle dissatisfaction in 1245 men aged 22–27 using logistic regression models.ResultsOf men, 30% experienced high muscle dissatisfaction, while 12% used supplements/steroids. Of highly muscle-dissatisfied men, 21.5% used supplements/steroids. Mean body mass index, waist circumference, or leisure aerobic activity index did not differ between individuals with high/low muscle dissatisfaction. Muscle dissatisfaction was significantly associated with a psychological and psychosomatic problems, alcohol and drug use, lower height satisfaction, sedentary lifestyle, poor subjective physical fitness, and lower life satisfaction.ConclusionMuscle dissatisfaction and supplement/steroid use are relatively common, and are associated with psychological distress and markers of sedentary lifestyle.

Highlights

Men are increasingly concerned about the way they look: a moderately or extremely muscular body is widely accepted as an ideal body shape for young men, creating discrepancy between the actual and desired body size and shape [1,2,3,4,5].ing, dietary supplements, and anabolic steroids to shape their bodies [6,7]
Very little is known about the association of muscle dissatisfaction with physical activity, dietary supplement or anabolic steroid use, or psychological symptoms in young men from the general population
The subjects of our study were relatively similar in age, height, body mass indices (BMI) and waist circumference irrespective of their muscle dissatisfaction (MD) and supplement use status (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Ing, dietary supplements, and anabolic steroids to shape their bodies [6,7]. It is plausible that exercise, weight training, and even competitive bodybuilding may improve men's body image [8,9,10]. Young men who are dissatisfied with their body shape Most of the existing studies in this area have focused on and musculature may be more likely to turn to bodybuild- defined groups of young men, such as athletes and college (page number not for citation purposes). Very little is known about the association of muscle dissatisfaction with physical activity, dietary supplement or anabolic steroid use, or psychological symptoms in young men from the general population. The aim of this study was to describe the psychological and behavioral correlates of muscle dissatisfaction in a population study of young Finnish males

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